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‘Green is the New Black’: This is why Chrysovalantou Giamas challenges fast fashion

Chris Spyrou
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‘Green is the New Black’: This is why Chrysovalantou Giamas challenges fast fashion

In every Greek household, bringing your mother to tears means you’ve either brought great shame to the family name or you’ve achieved something noteworthy. 

The latter is a feeling known all too well by Chrysovalantou Giamas whose Design and Technology major work ‘Green is the New Black’ is currently on display in the SHAPE 2021 Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

‘Green is the New Black’ at the Shape 2021 Exhibition. Photo: Supplied.

In an interview with The Greek Herald, the former St Euphemia College student revealed her eco-friendly dress crafted from dehydrated strawberries was born out of a desire to make an eye-catching statement.

“I wanted to create something that was obviously sustainable and something that was different. I didn’t want it to be like everything else with normal dress fabric, I wanted something untraditional.

“The first thing that came to mind was to make a dress made of fruit,” she said. 

Early ideations and sketches of ‘Green is the New Black’ (Left) Final creation (Right). Photos: Supplied.

Having first experimented with bananas, onions, lemons, grapes, cucumbers and kiwifruit, the 18-year-old finally landed on strawberries which gave the “best finish and aesthetic quality”. 

Giamas’ ‘Strawberry Fabric’ being sun-dried. Photo: Supplied.

The sustainable dress is under-layered by biodegradable shopping bags as well as a recycled red tablecloth sourced from Vinnies.

Giamas working on her eco-friendly strawberry creation. Photo: Supplied.

When asked how it felt to be one of 33 students in NSW to have their major works exhibited, Giamas recounted the exact moment she was notified her major work would feature in the SHAPE 2021 Exhibition. 

“When they emailed me, I was shocked. I thought my dress was different but I wasn’t expecting it to be featured at the Powerhouse,” she said.

The SHAPE Exhibition is presented annually in association with NSW Education Standards Authority and showcases a selection of outstanding and innovative major projects from HSC Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Designs students.

“I thought ‘wow’, that’s kinda cool,” she added modestly.

That calm collectedness quickly dissipated when Chrysovalantou called her mother to relay the good news, with Giamas telling The Greek Herald her mother started to cry.

LISTEN as Chrysovalantou Giamas recounts her family’s reaction to the news that ‘Green is the New Black’ would be exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum.

Whilst her achievement also won the happy tears of her grandparents who “told all their friends”, Giamas is more concerned with her work creating a wider move towards sustainable fashion.

“It’s really important to know the implications that fast fashion has. It causes a lot of damage to the environment and all living biology,” she said.

According to a 2019 report by the World Resource Institute, fast fashion, or the mass-production of clothing at a low cost has created a culture of “buying, wearing and quickly disregarding clothes”.

Globally, this means that 2,625 kilograms of clothing are either incinerated or landfilled every second. That is 82.8 billion kilograms per year, as reported by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 

Source: UNCTAD and Ellen MacArthur Foundation 

With less than 1% of the material used to produce clothing being recycled into new clothing, Giamas urges consumers to look to her project as living proof that “you really can create aesthetic and wearable items using sustainable and eco-friendly materials.”

“It can be produced to look and feel the same without sacrificing quality,” she said. 

Close up of ‘Green is the New Black’. Photo: NESA.

Environmental concerns aside, Giamas reminded The Greek Herald that fast fashion is a two-fold issue.

“A lot of fast fashion brands also source cheap labour overseas and they treat them unethically,” she said.

The now architecture student was first made aware of such unethical treatment in 2013 with the Rana Plaza Tragedy in Bangladesh. It was here that 1,132 were killed and 2,600 injured after five garment factories forced their workers to continue working despite structural cracks and official warnings to evacuate the building. 

For the aspiring architect, she wants fast fashion consumers to take a greater interest in sustainable brands and to “understand just how much one person’s fashion choices can impact the community”. 

Chrysovalantou’s ‘Green is the New Black’ will be on display at the Powerhouse Museum until Sunday, 14 August 2022. A virtual tour of the exhibition can also be taken for free here. 

19-year-old Tayla Kerpiniotis wins two gold medals at the Australian Rowing Championships

Andriana Simos
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19-year-old Tayla Kerpiniotis wins two gold medals at the Australian Rowing Championships

Ever since she was a young girl, Tayla Kerpiniotis always knew she wanted to be involved in the sport of rowing.

She, along with her family, lived overseas in the Middle East for a short time but once they returned to Sydney and she started Year 8, she instantly began to look for a new hobby.

“My dad had done rowing when he was younger and he thought I would be good at it,” Tayla explains to The Greek Herald exclusively.

All photos supplied.
Tayla with her team at the Australian Rowing Championships.
The Australian Rowing Championships.

“So I tried it and I loved it. Being in the water is calming and relaxing, and I love the community and friends you gain from rowing.”

Now, at 19 years of age, this passion and determination for rowing has stayed with Tayla and has seen her proudly represent females in a sport which she says continues to be dominated by males.

“There aren’t many women rowers and it’s difficult to stay in the sport because there’s not a lot of funding,” she says.

Tayla (second from left) in the Open Women’s University Quad Sprint.

Despite this, Tayla has persevered and was even proudly selected into the NSW state rowing team in the Youth 8 / Under 21 category.

This team recently competed in the Australian Rowing Championships in April and Tayla won two gold medals in the prestigious Bicentennial Cup and the Open Women’s University Quad Sprint.

Tayla’s mum, Evelyn Kerpiniotis, says seeing her daughter emerge from the water after the competition was “glorifying” and she’s “so proud of her.”

Tayla’s team with the Bicentennial Cup.

“We were just so thrilled. To see her so passionate and to achieve that result and her goals, was amazing,” Evelyn says.

Tayla adds that it was also a proud moment for her and showed how all her hard work has paid off.

“I’m so happy this season is done because I want to move up to the Under 23’s next season and see what I can achieve,” she concludes.

Four Australians of Greek heritage named SA’s top young Instagram influencers

The Greek Herald
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Four Australians of Greek heritage named SA’s top young Instagram influencers

The Adelaide Advertiser has just released its list of Instagram trendsetters 30 years of age and under, and among the names are four Australians of Greek heritage.

Who are they? The Greek Herald finds out.

Stavros Kapoulitsas:

22-year-old tradie, Stavros Kapoulitsas, has a huge Instagram following of almost 80,000 people. The Advertiser reports that he has also recently ventured into the NFT realm, creating his own crypto currency and selling it through Twitter.

READ MORE: Australians of Greek heritage named among SA’s rising stars for 2022.

Leah Itsines:

Leah Itsines is the sister of global fitness entrepreneur, Kayla Itsines, and has amassed close to 600,000 followers on Instagram. The 27-year-old shares healthy food recipes on her social media and is also a co-creator of the Bare Food Guide.

Christina Vithoulkas:

27-year-old Christina Vithoulkas was in a motocross accident in 2018 which left her paraplegic, but that never stopped her from achieving her dreams. She now has 71,600 followers on Instagram and uses her platform to break down the stigma of spinal injury with candour and positivity.

READ MORE: Christina Vithoulkas: Becoming a paraplegic made me a stronger, happier person.

Danny Philippou:

Danny Phillipou is half of the comedy YouTube duo ‘Racka Racka,’ which he started with his twin brother. The popularity of their slapstick YouTube show has seen him gain over half a million followers since starting in 2013.

READ MORE: YouTube stars Danny and Michael Philippou set to create debut feature film.

Source: The Advertiser.

Greek Community of Melbourne pays tribute to Councillors of Greek heritage

The Greek Herald
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Greek Community of Melbourne pays tribute to Councillors of Greek heritage

Victoria’s Councilors of Greek heritage were honoured for their contribution to public life by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) in a special event organised at the Greek Centre.

The event, which had been originally arranged for August 2021, had to be postponed and rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions. It was held in March at the Greek Centre’s Delphi Bank Mezzanine.

Presiding over proceedings on the night, former Victorian Government Minister, John Pandazopoulos, welcomed the Councillors on behalf of the Greek community, praised their collective public service and gave context to the reason the GCM had staged the event.

“We are all proud of your efforts. It is very important that there are people of Greek heritage, with Greek names, in public life. This is multiculturalism in action,” Mr Pandazopoulos said.

Following Mr Pandazopoulos, GCM President, Bill Papastergiadis OAM, welcomed the Councillors to the Greek Centre echoing Pandazopoulos’ thoughts and going further by saying: “We are honoured to have with us today the Greek councillors and Mayors from throughout Victoria.”

The event was held at The Greek Centre.

“For our perspective we felt that it was important to bring together the strong elements we have within our community, so that we can share not only in our heritage, but also in terms of a network where
we can working cohesively and cooperatively across a range of matters,” Mr Papastergiadis continued.

“You all are incredibly important parts of our community. I don’t think we have done enough as a GCM to support you and also to reward and thank you for the hard work you are doing. You carry a lot of the aspirations of our community through the work do.”

The evening continued with all of the attending councillors being awarded a commemorative plaque struck specially for the occasion prior to remaining to enjoy supper and to network with other councillors and members of the GCM.

The 24 Councillors that were acknowledged by the GCM are:

  • Cr Tony Athanasopoulos, City of Glen Eira.
  • Cr Tasa Damante, Maroondah City Council.
  • Cr Sam David, Brimbank City Council.
  • Cr Peter Dimarelos, City of Banyule.
  • Cr Emily Dimitriadis, City of Darebin.
  • Cr Jim Doukas, Moyne Shire.
  • Cr Joseph Haweil, City of Hume.
  • Mayor Cr Jami Klisaris, City of Stonnington.
  • Cr Paul Klisaris, City of Monash.
  • Cr Peter Kostos, Baw Baw Shire.
  • Cr Fiona Mitsinikos, City of Banyule.
  • Cr Despi O’Connor, Mornington Peninsula.
  • Cr Angelica Panopoulos, Moreland City Council.
  • Cr Angie Paspaliaris, Warrnambool City Council.
  • Cr Helen Pavlidis, Moreland City Council.
  • Cr Sophie Ramsey, Melton City Council.
  • Deputy Mayor Cr Melina Sehr, City of Stonnington.
  • Mayor Cr Steve Staikos, City of Kingston.
  • Cr Nick Stavrou, City of Booroondara.
  • Cr Suzanne Stojanovic, Maroondah City Council.
  • Cr Virginia Tachos, Brimbank City Council.
  • Deputy Mayor Cr Lambros Tapinos, Moreland City Council.
  • Administrator Lydia Wilson, City of Whittlesea.
  • Cr Theo Zographos, City of Monash.

Ethnolink launches Australia’s first online multicultural communications training platform

The Greek Herald
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Ethnolink launches Australia’s first online multicultural communications training platform

In an Australian-first, leading multicultural communications agency, Ethnolink, has launched Ethnolink Education, an online multicultural communications training platform for communications and community-sector professionals, made available entirely for free.

At launch, Ethnolink Education includes 14 hours of on-demand video training, on topics relevant to communicating with Australia’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities including writing for translation, website translation, community engagement, video translation, and multilingual government communications.

Having worked on multicultural communications campaigns with some of Australia’s leading agencies, including award-winning agency, Thinkerbell, Ethnolink hopes that the launch of their online training platform will be beneficial to both agencies, as well as to professionals working in government and community sectors.

READ MORE: New media diversity directory features Greek and Cypriot experts.

Founder and CEO of Ethnolink, Costa Vasili, who grew up in Australia’s most culturally diverse region, Dandenong, was inspired to launch Ethnolink Education after seeing first-hand the knowledge gap that mainstream communications professionals typically have when it comes to multicultural communications.

Commenting on the launch, Costa said: “Ethnolink Education is a passion project that I am incredibly proud of, fuelled by a burning desire I’ve had for over ten years to improve the quality of multicultural communications across Australia.”

After noticing that no one in Australia was regularly producing educational content on multicultural communications, Ethnolink’s management team decided to invest in the development of the Ethnolink Education online training platform.

“Over the past decade, I’ve noticed that communications professionals have great enthusiasm for diverse communications, but generally have a lack of understanding on how they need to tailor their communications across language and culture. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a place for them to learn and develop — that’s why we created Ethnolink Education,” Costa said.

Regularly asked to consult with state and federal government departments on multicultural communications strategies, Costa has led the content development that underpins Ethnolink Education.

Continuing, Costa added: “After ten years in the industry, it became apparent that we could improve the quality of multicultural communications across Australia at a wider-scale by developing educational content and promoting it to the masses, rather than just working with clients on a one-to-one basis.”

The launch of Ethnolink Education supports rather than replaces Ethnolink’s professional services offering, which includes multilingual content development, translations, and multicultural marketing.

Training content available on the platform includes hand-picked recordings of Ethnolink’s most popular webinars, as well as lesson outlines and overviews.

Ethnolink plans to release additional lessons onto the platform on a monthly basis, and aims to promote the platform Australia-wide in the hope that it leads to improved outcomes for multicultural communities.

The launch of Ethnolink Education follows a string of recent announcements including Ethnolink being awarded a 2-year contract with HealthShare Victoria, as well as the doubling of Ethnolink’s team over the past two years, now standing at 40 professionals servicing clients Australia-wide.

Peter Conistis set to open new venue on Sydney’s Oxford Street

The Greek Herald
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Peter Conistis set to open new venue on Sydney’s Oxford Street

Renowned Greek chef, Peter Conistis, is set to open a new venue on Oxford Street in Paddington, goodfood.com.au has reported.

Conistis said the yet-to-be named eatery would open at the end of the year because he’s currently got too much on his plate with his two other restaurants – Alpha and Ploos.

He has promised “a new concept” at the venue.

READ MORE: Look who’s cooking: Top five favourite Greek Australian chefs.

Conistis is well-known for his iconic Greek food. Photo: Jude Cohen.

The Greek chef only recently opened his restaurant, Ploos, at The Rocks in Sydney where he serves iconic southern Mediterranean food.

READ MORE: Peter Conistis’ new restaurant ‘Ploos’ opens at The Rocks in Sydney.

This includes zucchini fritters with eggplant hummus, blackened chickpeas and molasses, and a halloumi tart.

Conistis also runs Alpha, which is owned by the Hellenic Club of Sydney.

Source: goodfood.com.au.

Greek Health Minister says COVID passes for travellers to be ‘suspended’ from May 1

The Greek Herald
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Greek Health Minister says COVID passes for travellers to be ‘suspended’ from May 1

It’s official. Greece is fully reopening for the summer tourism season of 2022.

In an interview with SKAI TV on Tuesday, Greece’s Health Minister, Thanos Plevris, announced that COVID-19 vaccination and recovery certificates, as well as mandatory mask use indoors, would not longer be required as of May 1.

This announcement comes as part of the Greek government’s efforts to ease pandemic-related restrictions after Greek Easter and ahead of summer.

READ MORE: EU sets binding nine-month expiration date on its COVID-19 vaccine passport.

Greek Health Minister, Thanos Plevris.

Plevris was quick to point out, however, that the measure is temporary and that the certificates will not be abolished but “suspended.”

According to Keep Talking Greece, Plevris told local media that “the measures will be reviewed again in September.”

Plevris then touched on a possible fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine for Greek citizens and said a decision on this will be made at the European level this month.

Source: Keep Talking Greece.

Greece to speed up gas exploration to cut reliance on Russia

Andriana Simos
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Greece to speed up gas exploration to cut reliance on Russia

Greece will speed up gas exploration as it looks to cut its reliance on Russian energy, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting held at the Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resources Management company, Mitsotakis said Greece aims to complete its first test drilling in more than two decades by the end of 2023.

One land and five offshore areas have been selected for the accelerated hydrocarbon process. This includes an area northwest of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, in the Gulf of Kyparissia and in the sea west and southwest of Crete, as well as in the regional unit of Ioannina.

Mitsotakis said this decision was made in the face of the ensuing international energy crisis due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Accelerating the exploitation of the country’s national energy resources will allow us, if we are lucky and we have exploitable natural gas fields, to boost our energy independence, our energy security,” Mitsotakis said.

Mitsotakis at a meeting held at the Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resources Management company.

The Prime Minister added that whilst Greece aspires to become a hub for the storage and transfer of gas to the rest of Europe, this will not undermine the country’s plan to boost green energy and cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030.

“It is simply an alternative path towards the same target,” he said.

If all goes according to plan, this expansion will eventually allow Greece to export gas to its northern neighbours Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which are also heavily reliant on Russian gas.

Source: Ekathimerini.

Greek central bank reduces economic growth projection to 3.8% for 2022

Eleni Patsalides
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Greek central bank reduces economic growth projection to 3.8% for 2022

Greece’s economic growth projection has seen a reduction of almost 1 percent this year at 3.8 percent from the earlier projection of 4.8 percent. 

In a report released last week, the inflation rate has also been raised to 5.2 percent under the base scenario. 

In the report, Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras, mentioned that under said scenario Greek economic growth would slow to 2.8 percent and the inflation rate would rise by 7 percent. 

“The war in Ukraine is a new, major exogenous supply-side shock to the global economy that also affects, through various channels, aggregate demand,” said Stournaras. 

Yannis Stournaras. Photographer: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

Stournaras went on to say that Greece has a historical chance to turn the current crisis into an opportunity and that the main economic objectives for the country should maintain growth and strive to regain investment again. 

The performance of the economy will be dependent on the duration of the ongoing crisis and the extent of the effects it will continue to have globally on the prices of energy and food. 

“Although the main drivers of growth this year are domestic demand and tourism, there is significant uncertainty: the negative impact of inflation on households’ real disposable income will drag down private consumption,” Stournaras said.

Greece’s annual consumer inflation accelerated to 7.2 percent in February, the highest rate the nation has held in 25 years. 

Source: Reuters, Ekathimerini

A little bit about Basil: a Greek superfood

Eleni Patsalides
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A little bit about Basil: a Greek superfood

How many times have your grandparents sent you out to their ‘garden of plenty’ to pick some fresh basil for whatever yiayia is cooking? Or maybe to boil if your stomach was upset as a child. 

The basil plant is a staple in every Greek family, whether it stands tall in a plant in the yard or a tiny little pot plant on the windowsill. 

As we lead into Easter, it would be remiss of us to ignore the sacred connection that the basil plant has to the Greek Orthodox religion.

The sacred plant has been a huge part of the religion since Saint Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, came across it in her travels in search of the Holy Cross. 

It is said that Saint Helen stepped on the aromatic plant and was taken by the smell, she named the plant “Vassilikos” meaning ‘king’ or ‘flower of royalty’. 

The aromatic plant is used commonly in the Greek church as a blessing or ‘agiasmos’ by the priest to bless the congregation, getting rid of the evil spirits and wishing for prosperity and light. 

Similarly, to the church and how the herb is used, in cooking it can be found to elevate flavours in those perfectly traditional dishes and even in some modern fresh salads. 

Like many things in the Mediterranean diet, the basil plant has been proved to be packed with vitamins, be a source of zinc, magnesium, potassium and also for its antioxidant qualities. 

These health benefits have always meant that whenever it can be added to food, it should. 

Source: The Greek Vibe

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